


Patronus

by mistyautumn



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, F/F, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-11
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2020-10-18 01:24:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 14,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mistyautumn/pseuds/mistyautumn
Summary: A collection of ficlets from a Supergirl TV Hogwarts AU. Currently primarily featuring Kara and Brainy. Also featuring Winn, Alex, Kelly, and Clark. Ordered roughly chronologically (some things are a little murky or placed to serve as memories). Newest additions marked "New" in chapter title so they are easy to find. The first chapter is an index with featured characters and descriptions of each ficlet, in case you are looking for something specific.





	1. Index

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CycloneRachel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CycloneRachel/gifts).

> Here is an index of the ficlets to be found, in case you are looking for certain characters. You can check out asks and other thoughts on this AU tagged [here on my writing tumbr](https://starswouldtell.tumblr.com/tagged/hogwarts-au-asks).
> 
> For age reference: When Kara, Querl, and Winn were first years, Alex and Kelly were third years, and Clark and Lois were seventh years.
> 
> Artwork by [Padawanton](https://padawanton.tumblr.com/)

** **

[**Meeting**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/48989249)  
_K__ara and Querl_ \- In their fifth year at Hogwarts, Kara approaches Querl Dox. This was the first piece written for this AU; everything else has spun from here. _(Posted: Sept. 13, 2019)_

[**Unforgivable**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/53369869)  
_Querl, Fabala, and Querl's father_ \- When Querl was eight years old, he did something unforgivable. _(Posted: Jan. 21, 2020)_

[**A Place to Sit**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/58590778)_  
Winn, Kara, and Alex _\- Winn meets the Danvers sisters on the train. _(Posted: May 21, 2020)_

[**The First Flying Lesson**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/56289667)_  
Kara and Winn - _In her first year, Kara has flying lessons with her new friend, Winn. _(Posted: Apr. 4, 2020)_

[**Gossip**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/48989342)  
_Kara, Winn, Leslie, and Siobhan_ \- After their meeting, Kara defends her new friend Querl. _(Posted: Sept. 13, 2019)_

[**Friend of a Friend**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/49152056)  
_Querl and Winn_ \- Winn quite literally runs into Querl Dox. _(Posted: Sept. 18, 2019)_

[**The Patronus**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/48989417)  
_Kara and Querl_ \- With Kara's help, Querl practices trying to cast a Patronus. _(Posted: Sept. 13, 2019)_

[**The Mirror**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/48989441)  
_Kara and Querl_ \- Querl and Kara find something unique in the Room of Requirement. _(Posted: Sept. 13, 2019)_

[**Dementor**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/49372571)  
_Kara and Querl_ \- While walking on the Hogwarts grounds, something dangerous strikes. _(Posted: Sept. 26, 2019)_

[**Defenders**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/51138253)  
_Kara and Alex _\- Kara and Alex discuss the truth about the dementor. _(Posted: Nov. 17, 2019)_

[**The Logic of Hope**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/51975871)  
_Kara and Querl_ \- Querl is anxious after the dementor's attack. _(Posted: Nov. 17, 2019)_

[**Rumors**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/51754366)  
_Kara, Winn, Leslie, Franklin, and Mackenzie_ \- Rumors spread after the dementor. _(Posted: Dec. 6, 2019)_

[**Merry and Bright**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/50259443)  
_Kara, Querl, Alex, Clark, and Eliza_ \- Querl goes home with Kara and Alex for the holidays, and Kara's cousin Clark comes by to visit. _(Posted: Oct. 21, 2019)_

**[And the Winner Is](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/60949429)**_  
Querl, Winn, Kara, and Alex_ \- The gang has a game night. _(Posted: July 8, 2020)_

_[**Mirror, Mirror**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/58413535)  
Querl and Kara _\- In stolen moments they visit through two-way mirrors. _(Posted: May 17, 2020)_

[**Everything is Different Now**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/50913130)  
_Querl_ \- Querl considers his feelings for Kara. _(Posted: Nov. 9, 2019)_

[**Fabala**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/54941851)  
_Kara, Alex, Querl, and Fabala_ \- In the summer between Kara and Querl's fifth and sixth year, the Danvers sisters finally meet his mother. _(Posted: Mar. 1, 2020)_

[**Nice to See You**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/55154197)  
_Alex and Kelly _\- A recent graduate of Hogwarts, Alex is officially in the Auror program. Her first time in the field goes sideways, but when she really connects with a classmate from Hogwarts, she finds it’s maybe not so bad. _(Posted: Mar. 8, 2020)_

[**It Was You**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/59996608)_  
Kelly and Alex _\- Fond memories surface when Alex owls Kelly to plan their lunch. _(Posted: Jun. 19, 2020)_

[**For She Who Fills the World With Color**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/57944179)_  
Querl, Winn, and Kara_ \- Querl and Winn work some birthday magic for Kara_. (Posted: May 8, 2020)_

[**Smile**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/51953083)  
_Querl and Winn_ \- Winn finally gets Querl to actually smile. _(Posted: Dec. 13, 2019)_

[**Sharp**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/59867830)_  
Winn, Querl, and Kara_ \- Winn's hand slips in potions, but Querl heals him. _(Posted: June. 16, 2020)_

[**To Share the Ones You Love**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/56857366)_  
Alex, Kelly, Kara, James, and Eliza _\- Kelly comes for a little Christmas at the Danvers House. _(Posted: Apr. 16, 2020)_

[**A Gift**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/52008609)  
_Kara and Querl_ \- During his second holiday at the Danvers house, Querl and Kara's feelings for each other come to light. _(Posted: Dec. 14, 2019)_

[**Sisterly Duty**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/52538731)  
_Kara and Alex_ \- Obviously Alex is the first one to find out about Kara and Querl. _(Posted: Dec. 29, 2019)_

[**A Thing**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/53291050)  
_Querl and Winn_ \- Winn finds out Querl and Kara are now a thing. _(Posted: Jan. 19, 2020)_

[**The Trauma in the Teacup**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/54622537)  
_Kara and Querl_ \- Querl tells Kara what happened when he was eight. _(Posted: Feb. 23, 2020)_

[**After**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/55212040)  
_Kara and Querl_ \- Kara asks Querl what he wants to do after Hogwarts. _(Posted: Mar. 9, 2020)_

[**Sharn Kol**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/56355766)_  
Querl and Kelly - _Querl meets a man in the closed ward. _(Posted: Apr. 5, 2020)_

[**The Things She's Done**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20630789/chapters/58209148)  
Alex, Kelly, Querl, and Kara - Alex arrives at Kara and Querl's home, and learns what he and Kelly have found. _(Posted: May 13, 2020)_


	2. Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of Hogwarts AU for cyclonerachel. This features fifth year Querl and Kara. This is what all the rest of the AU has spun out of, so to me it is the perfect place to begin.

The whole room shimmers with silvery clouds and creatures, noisy with delighted chatter as students discover their patronuses. Querl shuts his eyes, trying to just _focus_, because he is the top of his class and it is _absurd_ that he is struggling with this, but he tries to summon a happy memory– an aced essay, that cat who bumped its head into his leg in greeting a few weeks ago, maybe a good book… nothing. None of it is enough; shadows swirl around the edges of every potential instance of brightness. Aced essays don’t erase his family history. The cat’s owner– a third year, he thinks, a Hufflepuff, squeaked in dismay and scooped the cat up, darting away from him. Good books end and he still lives in this world with the name Dox. His mouth twists into a scowl and he opens his eyes, faltering when he finds himself face to face with another cat- shimmery and inquisitive looking; a patronus.

“That one’s mine,” Kara Danvers plops into the chair next to his, smiling at the feline. “Do people name their patronuses? Is that weird? I kind of wanna name mine.”

Querl stares at her, but she simply smiles a sunny smile and pushes her hair back behind her ears. “I don’t believe that’s the norm.” He answers with a faint edge in his voice. Why is Kara Danvers talking to him…? 

She shrugs easily. “Norms.” She rests her chin on one hand, considering the patronus again. “What do you think of Streaky?”

“Did you need something?” Querl’s voice comes tersely and he feels a vague satisfaction when she hedges. Good. Take your patronus and _go away_.

“You just… You seemed frustrated.” Her expression softens and she looks tentatively at him, and Querl feels a strange little leap in his stomach that makes him sit up a little straighter, eyeing her. “I thought maybe…”

“Maybe what?” Querl’s eyes narrow, his shoulders drawing in guardedly.

“Maybe a friend would help.”

“We are not friends-”

Her hand shoots out and he realizes she is offering it to him.

“I’m Kara. Gryffindor. I sit over there,” She nods to her usual chair.

“I know who you are. We’ve been in this class together for five years.” Querl frowns at her.

“Yeah, but I’ve never introduced myself… I wanted to change that.” Her hand is still extended.

Querl looks at that hand, then at her face, her expression earnest and open and… warm. It occurs to him that he isn’t sure anyone’s ever looked at him like that before,and it disarms him. Slowly, he reaches out and takes her hand. “Querl. Dox.” In case she forgot where exactly he comes from.

“Nice to meet you Querl Dox.” Her expression doesn’t falter. “Now we’re friends.”

“Just like that?”

“Mhm. Not so bad, right?” She laughs a little, squeezing his hand lightly before letting go. Querl gazes at her. Though her patronus has faded, everyone else is still practicing. He’s still produced nothing.

“This should be simple.” He finally says, quietly. Something like a confession. His brow furrows, his jaw notching. “A happy memory. This should be _simple_ and I-…”

“Can’t find the right memory.” Kara’s tone is somehow understanding.

“…I’m not certain I have one.” Suddenly he can’t bear to look at her, instead he stares at the wood grain of his desk, eyes tracing the lines. When he feels a gentle, still tentative hand on his shoulder, he looks to her again and his stomach does another strange, tiny somersault. 

“You’ll get it. Maybe I can help. What are friends for?” 

It can’t be so simple, and it’s awfully presumptuous, and it’s new and strange and entirely unfamiliar. And yet… in spite of himself, Querl believes her.

“Maybe…” He manages.

“You’ll see.” She promises.

Maybe things can be different.

—

Querl Dox sits in the back of the class, which seems at odds with the way he seems to be able to answer every question like it’s _obvious_. But he sits in the back corner and as Kara looks at him, she is surprised to see a first… everyone else, it seems, has at least produced a silvery mist if not a corporeal patronus… Querl looks to be growing steadily more frustrated, his wand producing nothing. 

The name of Dox is a heavy one. It invokes darkness. Evil. It’s a name that instills fear in the hearts of many, but Querl Dox has never seemed anything like evil to Kara. He is smart- Ravenclaw through and through, and even innovative with his wand work. He isn’t friendly. That’s a truth, but Kara wonders just how she might feel if it seemed like everyone assumed she was some potential Dark Lord her whole life. She can’t remember ever seeing him hang out with any of their classmates… he keeps to himself. The other students give him a wide berth. 

She’s seen his mother briefly at the train; she isn’t anything like Eliza. The woman could well be carved from ice for all the warmth she emanates. She imagines growing up in that house, with that name, and those expectations. Having that kind of family legacy. 

It all sounds… lonely. 

Kara stands, making a choice. She wishes she’d thought more about Querl Dox, _really_ looked at him, last year. Two years ago. Three. She wishes she’d sat with him on the train when she was eleven. She can’t go back, but as she points her wand forward, she feels determined.

“_Expecto patronum_.”

The cat springs onto his desk, made up of all the hope in her heart. As she approaches, she wants nothing more than to give a little of that to him.


	3. Unforgivable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of flashback, inspired by episode 5x10. Querl was eight when he learned the meaning of "Unforgivable".

He is eight years old the first time he uses an unforgivable curse. His mother has been teaching him about them… the _Imperius_ makes your will theirs. _Avada Kedavra_ wipes the world of them. The _Cruciatus_ curse is _vengeance_. Always hungry for knowledge he wants to learn, but there is something else too… His mother is pleased, which is… rare. She even smiles at him. Encourages him. He is _starving_ for it.

She is demonstrating the wand work to cast the Imperius curse with subtlety when his father speaks from the doorway, his face white, his voice shaking.

“Are you _mad_?”

She looks to his father aloofly. “I’m teaching.”

“He is _eight years old_, he’s a _child_!”

“I’m smart enough,” Querl starts to interject, but his father isn’t listening.

“How could you possibly even _imagine _it’s appropriate to teach _a child_ this magic?”

His mother’s expression has cooled, all hints of a smile gone, and Querl feels his own anger tick, spiking hot within him. He was learning spells and making her proud and his father is _ruining it_.

“I wanna learn the spells!” He protests. “I’m learning them!”

Her eyes slide to him with interest. His father is shaking his head.

“There is a reason these curses are _unforgivable_, Querl, and you’re not-”

Querl isn’t listening. He is good enough. He can _master this_.

“I could_ Imperius_ you and _make you_ let mother teach me-” Querl starts acidly, but his father strikes him across the face and he freezes, his cheek stinging. His father is shaking; seems to regret it immediately, starts to speak Querl’s name, but whatever he says, Querl does not know because he is flooded with _rage_.

He thinks it is the fastest he has ever moved when he takes his mother’s wand from the table, and points it at his father.

“_Crucio_!”

What happens next haunts his nightmares for years after… his mother showed him what to do, told him the incantation, but she did not tell him…

His father _screams_, falls writhing on the floor… goosebumps rise on Querl’s skin and his fury drains in an instant, replaced by fear, regret. He drops his mother’s wand and takes a step back, but his mother is there. She rests a hand on his back.

“Well done, Querl.”

His father pants, unable to speak, tears falling from his eyes.

Querl thinks he might vomit.

_There is a reason these curses are unforgivable._

“Go upstairs.” His mother says. 

Starting to tremble, Querl bolts from the room, casting one last glance over his shoulder at the man on the floor…

The sight sears itself into his mind’s eye, like a brand. 

It is the last time he sees his father.


	4. A Place to Sit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rachel requested "Kara and Winn meeting for the first time". :)

The train starts to move and Winn stands rooted in the corridor, trying to take everything in; everything that’s happened in the past year, as his world has changed again and again, for the worse, but now, maybe, for the better…

_This is happening… This is real…_

He takes a breath, gripping the handle of his trunk, and thinks for a moment that he might pass out, when he feels a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, did you need a place to sit? My sister and I have room in our compartment.”

He looks and it’s a girl; his age, he thinks, with blonde hair and a smile that somehow eases his nerves.

“I’m Kara.” Taking her hand from his shoulder, she gives a little wave and shifts so he can see into the compartment. “This is my sister, Alex.” The older girl gives a wave too, her gaze seeming to size him up.

“Winn.” He smiles tentatively. “You don’t mind?”

Kara shakes her head and helps him get his trunk stowed.

“Can you believe all this…? This is- it’s crazy! It’s amazing, but it’s _crazy_.”

Alex looks amused and Kara delighted as she takes her seat again.

“Are you muggle born?” Alex asks, and Winn nods.

“That’s no magic right? I thought magic was just… movies and stuff.”

“And now it’s you.” Kara grins, and Winn nods again, sitting next to her.

“Did you grow up with all this? With _magic_?” He breathes, trying _fathom_ that. How things could have been different, maybe…

Kara nods, her expression still warm. “But we all really start here.”

“Do you know what it’s like? Hogwarts?”

“It’s a castle.” Now Alex grins, watching Winn’s face.

“A _castle_?”

“You’ll see.”

“Alex said first years take boats over, so you and I can ride together.”

“Yeah!” Winn finds himself flooded with a fresh wave of nervous energy. “We’re gonna live in _a castle_.”

Kara laughs, and Alex gives a good natured roll of her eyes, but smiles.

“Do you know about the houses yet?” Kara asks, eager to stoke his excitement further. “And getting sorted?”

Winn shakes his head, hungry for information on this new world. “Tell me everything-” Winn starts. “And, thanks. For letting me sit with you.”


	5. The First Flying Lesson

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a throwback to wee Winn and Kara in their first year; my response to the elmayarafest “wonder” prompt.

What’s just as exciting as her first flying lesson, Kara thinks, is the fact that she gets to share it with a new friend.

The expression on Winn’s face keeps rapidly switching between exhilaration and fear, and Kara can’t suppress the giggle that bubbles up from her as she watches. She’s been around broomsticks plenty, but for Winn it’s a first.

“Are you alright?”

“This is so _cool_! And _terrifying_! Like- they do this_ in movies_ but in real life? Wait- there’s one movie where they fly on vacuums, too- is that a real thing?”

Kara laughs. “Generally just broomsticks and carpets.”

“_Magic carpets._” Winn breathes, with a look of wonder.

Kara bounces eagerly on the balls of her feet; a little because Winn’s excitement is contagious and a lot because she _loves_ to fly and this isn’t a kid’s toy or hanging onto Eliza or Alex-- she gets to fly a proper broomstick by herself; free as a bird, the wind in her hair (_well, at least as much as a first lesson will allow for_).

Soon enough they’re mounted on their brooms and Winn is practically _vibrating_. Kara reaches out and gives his arm a little squeeze; he looks to her and smiles, still caught between nerves and excitement.

“Ready to fly?” She smiles back.

He nods, taking a deep breath. “Hey, Kara?”

“Yeah?”

“I am _so_ glad I got this class with you.”

“Me too.” She beams, and on the count of three they kick off the ground together.


	6. Gossip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After their meeting, Kara defends her new friend Querl.

Kara and Winn share a table in Divination which is great. What’s less great is that their table is adjacent to Leslie and Siobhan; not her favorite place to be given the pair of them tend to sit an gossip through entire classes. Usually she ignores the barbed commentary, but today is different.

“He’s the shame of the Dox family.” Siobhan says, somehow half sigh and half snicker. “I mean, how could he not be? He comes from that kind of power and he’s basically a waste of magical blood.”

In spite of herself, Kara glances over her shoulder.

“He’s a waste of _something_.” Leslie says boredly, looking into the crystal ball between them, without any actual interest or intent.

Taking Leslie’s answer as an invitation to continue, Siobhan digs in further. “He could have _ruled_ this place if he’d put himself with the_ right_ people, and instead he’s just-”

“Kara?” She looks back to Winn, who’s looking at her with concern. “You ok?”

“Yeah, sorry…” She keeps her voice down and suppresses the sudden urge she has to hex Siobhan Smythe into a bog. “They were talking about Querl Dox, and-”

“Scary Querl Dox?” Winn hedges.

“Winn!” Kara hisses, frowning at her friend. “He isn’t _scary_.”

Winn puts his hands up sheepishly. “Ok, bad word choice,” He looks genuinely contrite which appeases Kara some. “He is _prickly_ thought…” Kara sighs because that’s… fair.

“I think you two would get along, actually…” Winn is muggle born and though wizards might not know the name _Schott_, she knows that in the muggle world it comes with baggage. “I talked to him the other day in Defense Against the Dark Arts.”

“You did?” Winn looks surprised. The bell rings and she and Winn start to pack up their stuff.

She nods. “Yeah, I did.”

“You _did_?” Kara looks up and starts when she finds herself face to face with Leslie who smirks when Winn yelps. “Were you _eavesdropping_?” She tisks, eyes still sizzling with a special kind of danger that Kara’s seen plenty of people turn tail and run from. She won’t. Not today.

“I heard you talking about my _friend_.” She stops trying to keep her voice down.

“Your what, now?” Leslie looks at her incredulously, and Siobhan stops beside her, crossing her arms.

“You heard.” Kara stands, putting her hands on her hips. “Querl is _my friend_, and you’re not gonna talk about him like that while I’m around. He’s a good person, you could learn a thing or two from him.”

The Slytherin girls stare for a moment, then burst out in peels of laughter. Other students are staring. Kara doesn’t care.

Querl Dox is her friend, and everyone should know it.


	7. Friend of a Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Winn quite literally runs into Querl Dox.

After Kara tells him about Querl Dox, Winn spends two weeks thinking about possible ways to approach him. He starts to, twice– first when he sees him in the library, then in Charms– but then he panics and veers in another direction, hoping the Ravenclaw didn’t notice the approach. Because he believes Kara that Querl isn’t scary, but the idea of approaching him _is_. The decision, however, leaves his hands when he quite literally runs into Querl while rounding a corner to go and meet Kara.

“Sorry!” Winn scrambles to pick up flying parchment and reaches out a hand to help the other boy, finally realizing who it is he’s bowled to the floor and tensing. “I- I’m sorry.”

“Mind where you’re going.” Querl glares, taking his parchment from Winn’s hand, then pausing, eyes flickering with what Winn thinks is recognition.

“I zoned out,” Winn rubs the back of his neck uncertainly, then takes a step out onto the proverbial ledge. “I was going to meet Kara…” He says tentatively. “She said the other day that she’s been talking to you.”

“Yes.” Querl’s stance shifts slightly, growing somewhat guarded. “Is this a problem to you?”

“No, no!” Winn says quickly and smiles a little sheepishly. “Kara and I have been friends forever, so I actually, uh, well, I wanted to meet you.” He offers his hand. “Winn. Winn Schott.”

Querl looks at his hand, then his face with an expression something like bemusement, then slowly takes it. “Querl Dox.”

Winn feels a tightness in his chest ease as Querl shakes his hand. _See? Not scary._ Then he ventures a little further. “Hey, Kara and I are having a little game night; gobstones and exploding snap and stuff… you wanna join us?”

“I-” Querl starts to answer then seems to hesitate, considering. “Would it not be an intrusion?”

“No intrusion.” Winn smiles, more genuinely this time, because all things considered this is going pretty well. “The more the merrier.”

Querl regards him another moment then nods. “Perhaps. For a little while.”

“Alright!” Winn grins, starting back on his way, Querl Dox falling into step beside him. “I should warn you, I’m kind of the master of exploding snap.”

“I suppose we’ll see.” The shadow of a smile curves the other boy’s mouth just slightly. Tentative, wary, watchful, _hopeful_.

He has a lot in common with Querl Dox.

_I am gonna get you to smile for real._


	8. The Patronus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With Kara's help, Querl practices trying to cast a Patronus.

Streaky pounces around the Room of Requirement and Kara smiles, turning to Querl. “Ready?”

“I suppose we’ll find out.” Querl answers honestly, rolling his shoulders and trying to loosen up, though he isn’t entirely sure why. Being loose won’t help him make a patronus, only the right memory can do that. He asked Kara to come because he thinks, maybe-… he _hopes_ that now… he closes his eyes, focusing, and _sees_.

_“I’m Kara. Gryffindor. I sit over there,” Her hand outstretched, her expression _warm_. She wears that look in the library too, as they study together and look over each other’s History of Magic essays. She laughs in delight as an owl lands on his head. She offers him half of her chocolate frog in Hogsmeade. “Now we’re friends.”_

He takes a breath and moves his wand decisively. “_Expecto patronum!_”

He hears Kara make a happy sound and his eyes snap open to see a silvery mist hanging in the air before him. He’s torn between being happy because it’s _something_, and being disappointed because it’s not _enough_, but then Kara throws her arms around him and hugs him tightly, and his sinking spirits lift like she’s cast _wingardium leviosa_. He slowly hugs her back and smiles in spite of himself. She looks up at him and pokes him in both sides lightly. 

“Look!” She beams. “Look, you’ve got it!”

Nodding, he looks at the fading patronus and then back to Kara. “I,” He pauses, collecting himself, giving another nod as he carefully disentangles from her embrace. “I’d like to try again.”

Kara gives his arm a quick squeeze and steps back to give him room. “Yeah!” She’s still smiling.

He focuses again and points his wand, his eyes falling shut. “_Expecto patronum_.”

_“You’ll get it. Maybe I can help. What are friends for?”A smile like stepping into sunlight after days of rain. A shout of his name as she runs up to greet him in passing. A hug. No _ _one’s_ _ ever hugged him…_

“Querl…” She murmurs. “Open your eyes.”

He does and he sees it: a silvery owl soaring around the room. There’s a sudden prickle behind his eyes that he quickly blinks away, gaze fixed on it… his patronus.

“Kara…”

She takes his hand and squeezes. “It’s _perfect_.”

“I…” He finds himself at a loss for words, finally tearing his eyes away to look at her instead. “Thank you.” He gazes at her now and wonders if she can feel what it means to him. “Thank you, Kara.”


	9. The Mirror

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Querl and Kara find something unique in the Room of Requirement.

They like to go to the Room of Requirement, it’s their secret place. It’s always ready for them, whether they need a quiet place to study, targets to practice spells, even snacks when Querl gets caught up in something and forgets to eat. Sometimes, though, they enter to find more unusual things… One day there is a tall mirror in the center of the room.

“Curious,” Querl murmurs, walking around the looking glass.

“_Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi_…” Kara reads, tilting her head to one side.

“That’s interesting.” He moves to stand beside her. “Backwards.”

“You got that just from listening to me say it?” Kara smiles, impressed and amused.

“I did.” He smiles with pride.

He looks into the mirror at their reflection, then something curious happens… Kara steps away, goes to her bag, but her reflection remains, standing there with him… she wraps her arms around him and rests her chin on his shoulder, smiling warmly. She presses her cheek to his, beaming, and his lips part.

“Kara…”

“Hm?” She looks up from where she’s crouching to root through her things.

“_Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi_.” He speaks the engraving and understands. He wants to stay with her forever… his heart’s desire. Because with Kara-… With Kara he is safe. With Kara, he is more than his family name. With Kara he doesn’t feel _so_ achingly _alone_.

“Look…” He waves her to come back. “What do you see?”

He steps back as Kara moves to stand before the mirror, blinking in surprise as she registers what it reflects.

“_Oh_,” She breathes, gently touching the glass.


	10. Dementor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the prompt "either Querl or Kara saving the other from a Dementor".

“Are you- do you think you’re going to go home for the holidays?” Kara and Querl walk along the edge of the Forbidden Forest, the grass crunching beneath their feet with a light frost that gives the grounds a glittering sort of quality.

“I always stay.” Querl answers, shoving his hands in his pockets. “It’s nice, actually… when near everyone is gone and I have most of the place to myself.” The dorm is always empty, and the library. He can find a place to sit in the common room without anyone staring. Or glaring. Or getting up to sit somewhere else.

“Well I was thinking, if you want… what if you came home with Alex and I? I asked Eliza and she said it would be fine, and you could have a proper holiday.” She smiles hopefully and Querl’s stomach does a full-on flip. “If there’s a proper snow, there’s a hill right down the street and we could go sledding, and Eliza makes the best pies at the holidays, and there’s a pull-out couch in the den, so you’d have your own space to sleep and if you just need- you know- you time. And we could show you some muggle movies, you might like those!”

Querl aches to agree, but if his mother found out… “It sounds wonderful.” And it does, and his heart sinks as he readies to turn her down. The whole world seems to grow colder… someone whispers in his ear, _hateful _ things… someone is writhing in agony, begging- then he sees it, stumbling backwards… a dementor looms over the water, gliding towards them, the surface of the lake crystallizing to ice beneath it.

“No…” he breathes, the words a cloud emerging from his lips. He draws his wand as something else echoes in his head… _Please don’t make me do this… mother, **please**… _His breath hitches and he feels sick; he pushes it back with all the mental force he can muster- points his wand and thinks of _Kara_\- her laughter, her hand clasping his, her embrace- “_Expecto patronum_!” The owl soars from his wand and tears at the monster with silvery talons, wings beating. His heart pounds but the dementor flies away, and Querl feels a stinging in his eyes and hot tears slide down his cheeks.

He turns, going rigid when he sees Kara laying on the ground.

“Kara!” He rushes to her, drops to his knees, tries to rouse her. “Kara- Kara, _please_-” Her fingers curl into his arms and he hugs her fiercely. Slowly she hugs back, her breath hitching as she starts to cry.

“_I heard my mom and dad_,” She sobs, and Querl hugs her tighter, heartsick.

“Kara…” He presses his cheek to her hair and squeezes his eyes shut, wishing he could bear her pain, knowing his own family line caused so much of it.

Eventually she pulls away, scrubbing at her eyes, looking to Querl. “Did you cast a patronus…?” She takes his hand in hers and squeezes it. “You did it.” Her smile is watery and proud and he doesn’t feel like he deserves it. “I… you read about what it feels like, but…”

“It doesn’t prepare you…” He murmurs and Kara nods sadly.

She takes a deep breath, in then out, steadying herself. “At least if it ever happens again, I’ll be ready…” Her blue eyes are determined and Querl admires her more than anyone he has ever met or even read about. He hesitates a moment, then slowly hugs her again.

“You will.”

She is the only reason the dementor didn’t end _him_.

As night falls, Querl returns to his dorm, a pit forming in his stomach when he sees a familiar owl, all black feathers, red eyes, and sharp beak. It holds an envelope with a familiar green seal that he wants to throw directly into the fireplace, but forces himself to take. Before he can open it, it twists into the air and forms a sort of mouth from which comes his mother’s voice. A howler, minus the howling.

“_I wrote to inquire as to your studies and received no response, so I decided to send owls directly to your professors. I was informed you struggled with the Patronus charm_.” Querl’s lips press together, his hands balling up. “_I thought perhaps you needed something to spur your success. Do not embarrass this family again, Querl._”

The message curls up in a puff of green flame, the ash falling to the floor. He feels like he might jump out of his skin.

_You sent it._

And if it had kissed him…?

One good things comes of it, though. Querl finds he no longer cares what his mother thinks.


	11. Defenders

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Paranoid Querl and protective Kara was requested and this is what it inspired.

“He said his mother sent it…” Kara says softly. “_A dementor_. Can you even- how could someone do that to- _how_ could she do that to her _son_…? And that’s the kind of person people think _Querl _is…”

Alex puts an arm around her sister, pulling her into a hug. “I’m just glad you’re ok… if he hadn’t managed the patronus…”

Kara hugs her sister tightly. “I’m ok, Alex.” She reassures, not wanting her sister to fret over her. She’d told her what she’d heard that night, cried again in Alex’s arms… she doesn’t want to dwell on that pain. Instead she’s worrying over her friend. “He’s paranoid… afraid she’s watching him somehow…”

“Could someone be reporting to her?”

“I dunno… maybe?”

“I’ll keep my ears open in the common room.” Alex says thoughtfully. “See if anyone’s bragging about scoring shady points.”

“Thank you, Alex.” Kara looks gratefully at her sister. “Have I told you you’re the best?”

“Never enough.” Alex smirks and it puts Kara at ease.

She’ll talk to Winn, too, and maybe Headmaster Jones. When he had spoken to them about the incident, Querl had barely spoken at all… it was only later that he had confided in Kara. Between them they’ll make sure Querl feels safe here. As for his mother, as far as Kara is concerned she can go fly a broomstick and that’s that.


	12. The Logic of Hope

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In response to the prompt "Querl being afraid of being seen with Kara, because he's worried she won't be safe".

“There is something we should consider if I’m to visit your home for the holidays.” Querl frowns pensively, clearly worrying about something.

“What’s that?” Kara frowns too. “I told you, we’re excited to have you. Alex even said you can pick the first movie for-”

“It isn’t that.” He sighs. “It’s my mother. If I’m watched; if she knows I lied to her, thinks you persuaded me…” His voice drifts off as he wonders what his plans of rebellion might put into motion. “I do not want anything to happen to you or your family… anything more.”

Kara lays her hand on Querl’s shoulder and rubs it gently. “Her letter didn’t mention me,”

“No, but it is a risk all the same.”

“Our house is protected. My cousin’s even consulted for the auror department before; I can write him and ask him to stop by before the holidays and make sure everything’s up to snuff.”

“Your cousin.” She can almost see his stomach clench and feels a pang in her heart.

“Yeah. Clark won’t mind. I promise.” She hugs him gently then draws back. “I know you’re probably thinking of the worst case scenarios right now, but I think… I think hope should be stronger than fear.” She takes his face lightly between her hands, her blue eyes looking into his dark ones. “We’ll be ok. You’re my friend, Querl. I don’t wanna hide that. Not for Christmas. Not ever. I value that more than I fear your mother. Ok?”

Querl gazes at her with eyes that seem to be trying to fathom her outlook. Finally he nods. “Alright.” And he smiles thinly. “You have a point… it isn’t logical to live my entire life in fear of what she might do… that would hardly be living at all.”

Kara nods, smiling gently. “So we live it up.“


	13. Rumors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rumors fly after the Dementor attack. A response to the prompt "Kara and Querl hearing some of the rumors about themselves after they've become closer friends".

People talk. Somehow it seems the whole school knows about the dementor and it seems like everyone has an opinion as to the who and the what and the where and the why. 

Siobhan says Querl summoned it because maybe he’s not a total disappointment, but Leslie says maybe it was Kara, as vengeance for her cousin (“_Can’t trust the happy ones_”). Franklin sees Kara and hugs her and tells her “_I’m so glad he didn’t hurt you!_” and Kara is stunned and tries to explain that Querl doesn’t want to hurt _anyone_, but he still looks deeply concerned. 

Even when well intentioned, the rumors make Kara’s blood boil and she wonders how Querl has dealt with it since he was _eleven_.

“I heard a rumor Dox called the dementor because she wouldn’t kiss him and if she wasn’t gonna kiss him, then she wasn’t gonna kiss anybody- isn’t that _sick_?” Mackenzie whispers before Divination, and at that Kara slams her books onto her table and glares.

“Nothing like that happened. If Querl hadn’t made a Patronus, we’d have both been done for, but everyone wants to make him out to be some horrible-”

“Not everyone,” Leslie volunteers with a smooth sort of smile. “I totally think you could have done it. Embrace the darkness and all that.”

Kara huffs indignantly and tries to find a comeback, but Winn’s hand brushes hers briefly and she sucks in a breath, turning sharply away from Leslie to sit, her ponytail snapping smartly behind her.

“You know what really happened.” Winn says softly. “It’s not any of their business.”

“I just-” She takes a breath and tries to set her thoughts in order. “It just isn’t right.”

“I know.” Winn says with understanding.

“The truth matters. I wish Querl would set them straight…”

“I think it’s more complicated than that.”

And Kara sighs, knowing it is. Would anyone believe him? Could it make it somehow worse?

“They’ll find something else to talk about eventually. And anyway, we only have two more days of class before break.” She’s grateful for Winn, because she knows he understands- _really_ understands.

“And he’s gonna come with me and Alex so he won’t be stuck here.” Kara nods. “We’ll all get a break.”

No stares, no whispers. She just has to make it two more days. And she wonders, for a sad moment, if that’s how her friend feels all the time.


	14. Merry and Bright

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Querl goes home with Kara and Alex for the holidays, and Kara's cousin Clark comes by to visit. This is a little early for the given holiday, but it’s what popped into my head for the prompt "Kara inviting Querl to ride on a broom with her". A little shout out to Taylor for helping me hash out some stuff in my head that doesn’t necessarily appear here but helped me decide how I wanted to approach this.

Holidays at the Danvers house are a far cry from what Querl grew up with (not that the bar would be particularly high, his family doesn’t celebrate anything). It starts as soon as they get off the train: Eliza Danvers welcomes him, hugging him right after Alex and Kara, and even asking him about his semester. He blinks, surprised, and follows them to the automobile- _car_\- in the lot. He suspects it’s a little enchanted; it must be to fit all their things. It also moves like the Knight Bus, squeezing between cars at high speed, unnoticed by muggles. Their home is nicely secluded, with a view of an icy pond and a snowy wood.

The house is decorated beautifully for the season- warm and inviting, it brings a song that played on the radio as they drove to mind… _merry and bright_. Kara’s home is most certainly both of those things, with the fairly lights twinkling, the beautiful tree… he ducks as a tiny enchanted sleigh pulled by tiny enchanted reindeer flies over his head, leaving quickly disappearing snowflakes in his hair. Alex laughs and Kara suppresses a giggle of her own before showing him to a den where a couch has been transfigured into a bed for him. (“It’s not really magic, just a pull-out.”)

Two days into his stay, Kara’s cousin comes to visit- beaming and bright as any of the decorations, Clark Kent hugs Kara, then Alex and Eliza, before offering his hand… “You must be Querl.”

“Yes,” He shakes Clark’s hand a little distractedly, because he’s _grown up_. As a first year Ravenclaw, he’d never really interacted with the seventh year Gryffindor, but he _knows_ Clark… He knows Clark was a prefect. He knows the reputation for kindness. That these days he writes for the Daily Prophet. He knows it was _his_ family that murdered Clark’s birth parents. His chest tightens because in this moment he _doesn’t_ know what to say. “Happy Holidays.” He manages, his mouth dry.

“Speaking of, this bag is way too heavy and I need to unload these _gifts_.” Clark chuckles easily, heading into the living room with Kara and Alex, unslinging a bag from his shoulder.

Querl trails after them, watching as he reaches into his bag and pulls out a parcel wrapped in blue paper with shiny golden polka dots, then another, then two more. “This one’s Alex, then Eliza, Querl, this one’s for you- I hope you like it- and Kara!” Querl takes the small parcel, blinking in surprise, as Kara takes her own box.

“You didn’t have to-” Querl starts, but Clark waves a hand and smiles warmly.

“Kara told me this is your first proper holiday… I wanted to.”

Querl tears the wrapping carefully and opens the small box to reveal two small mirrors. As recognition sets in he sucks in a breath, starting to thank Clark when Kara shrieks and throws her arms around her cousin. “Oh my gosh!” Clark starts to laugh and Querl looks at the tiny box out of which Kara has pulled a full sized broomstick. “Are you serious?!” Alex is gaping then grinning, a new sneakoscope in her own hands.

“I’m serious.” Clark grins. “You were talking about wanting a Thunderbird, weren’t you?”

Kara lets out another happy cry and dashes out the back door into the snow.

“Coats!” Eliza calls, rolling her eyes and smiling as Alex follows her sister, pulling on her own coat and grabbing Kara’s, then looking back to Querl. “Come on!”

“Thank you- for the gift,” Querl says quickly before following the Danvers girls into the back yard. Alex has retrieved another broomstick from a porch cabinet, and she and Kara are both ready to take to the sky.

“Come on!” Kara calls, waving Querl over. “You can fly with me!” She grins, cheeks rosy from the cold and waves him over again. “Come on!”

Querl approaches, mounting the broomstick behind Kara and wrapping his arms around her waist with a start as they shoot into the air, peels of her laughter echoing in the twilight.


	15. And the Winner Is

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Rachel who wanted a game night, and for Winter who knows sorting is hard!

A Ravenclaw, a Gryffindor, a Hufflepuff, and a Slytherin attend a game night. Querl, Kara, and Winn are playing Exploding Snap, while Alex sits to one side, working on an essay that’s snuck up on her. She’d probably be more efficient in the library, but tonight it seems she wants to work in the company of her sister and their friends.

“Two bowtruckles!” Winn grins, tapping the cards and marking a point on the board. Kara sighs dramatically because he’s winning and the cards keep shuffling faster, then exploding before she can match anything. Querl watches pensively, tracing paths as the cards shuffle again, and trying to keep a picture in his head of what’s where. He smiles as he pairs two mountain trolls.

Flopping back on the cushions they’ve piled around a low table, Kara shakes her head and laughs, a good sport even though she’s losing. Querl marks his point. Alex snorts.

“One more for the Ravenclaw!” Winn announces, then leans his elbows on the table. “Ya know, I was almost in Ravenclaw, the hat was _very_ back and forth.”

“Was it?” Querl’s brows rise in surprise.

“I’ll try not to be insulted by the look on his face.”

“Do try.” Querl smiles thinly as Winn nudges him and Kara sits up, eying the cards and reaching, then snatching her hand back as one promptly explodes at her fingertips.

Winn snorts. “Sorry! Sorry, we were being distracting with your picking time!”

“You were!” Kara pouts.

“You could distract him in turn.” Querl smirks and Alex glances over with an approving eye.

“Woah, woah, woah! Are you two ganging up on me?!” Winn squawks indignantly. “And here I was gonna say I kinda wish I was a Ravenclaw so maybe I’d have gotten to know you sooner.”

That gives Querl pause… he gazes at Winn, and feels a flicker of something sad; something doubtful. “Do you think that…?”

“Hey, maybe.” Winn smiles a little, but catches that doubt in Querl’s face.

Kara looks between them… another card explodes, but they don’t notice.

“I’m not sure.” Querl finally murmurs, looking down.

“No matter what, we’re your friends _now_.” Kara reassures, taking his hand and giving it a squeeze.

“You’re stuck with us.” Winn grins.

Alex sets her essay aside, scooching closer. “They are _very _hard to shake once they get attached.” Her expression says she’s not going anywhere either.

Querl smiles wanly, though he still wonders what might have been… if he and Winn might have been friends, or if Winn would have hated him… the other Ravenclaws pretty much kept their distance unless it was unavoidable, and truth be told, Querl avoided them too. Still, he wondered, but quickly tried to shake such thoughts.

“I’m thankful to know you now.” The words feel vulnerable in a way that is still new and strange for Querl, but saying them and seeing Kara and Winn smile feels… comforting. He glances to the cards– he’s lost track of what went where, but he turns over a Unicorn, and then another, before the rest of the deck jumps into the air with a _snap_– game over.

“Man,” Winn laughs; Kara and Alex cheer. “With a last second cinch, the Ravenclaw is the winner!”

Querl feels a strange sense of warmth at the words. “Yes… I suppose I am.”


	16. Mirror, Mirror

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rachel asked for Kara and Querl using the mirrors Clark gifted for the holidays.

Listening hard, he hears the_ crack_ of his mother apparating and breathes a sigh of relief to be _alone_ in the house. Sitting on his bed, he’s still for several minutes, waiting, listening… She should be gone for at least an hour’s time.

Minutes pass; the house stays silent, and finally he gets up, going to his school trunk and opening it, fishing a soft velvet bag from a hidden pocket in the lining. Opening it, he takes out the small mirror and hopes its twin is near her…

“Kara?”

The glass seems to tilt and then she’s smiling at him. “Querl!” She keeps her voice down, but she’s beaming; excited. Her cheeks look a little rosy from the sun; her hair is windswept.

“Were you flying?” He smiles.

“Mm, we were, but we were about to go have lunch.” She combs her fingers through her hair. “Alex is practicing precision flying stuff she’ll be tested on to be an auror, so we were practicing.”

“Sounds fun.” His tone’s a little wistful.

“What about you?”

“My mother’s off to meet an associate, so enjoying a little time to myself.” He sighs. “It’s not like she’s constantly leaning over my shoulder, but when she’s here, it feels…”

“I get it.” Her eyes are understanding. “Like you have to be on your guard.”

“Something like that… I’m glad I caught you.”

“Me, too.” She gazes at him through the glass. “I worry about you.”

He feels a pang in his heart. “You don’t… have to.”

Her answering smile is sad. “That’s not gonna stop me.”

His head dips slightly and he looks down. He hates that she worries, yet he’s grateful. It’s a shift, to suddenly _matter_ to someone. He’s not sure how to express that without seeming…

“Hey, you’d mentioned maybe apprenticing for that potioneer, did you get the position?” She pulls him from his thoughts.

“I did.” He brightens. “Mostly ingredient preparation, but he’s letting me brew some things. It’s nice, to get out of the house. Have a little money that’s mine.”

“Maybe I could drop by one day,” She starts hopefully, and Querl’s face falls.

“I don’t think that’s wise… He’s friendly enough with my mother…”

“Oh,” She falters and Querl almost flinches.

“I wish you could. I-… I miss you, Kara.”

“I miss you too. The second we’re on the train again, I’m giving you the biggest hug.”

“I look forward to that.” He smiles wanly.

“Wait til Winn finds out you’re a hugger.” She grins and Querl laughs.

How strange it feels, to laugh in this house.

“Perhaps. Selectively.”

They watch each other for a moment, then Kara bites her lower lip.

“Are you reading a chapter every night?”

“Yes.” The last day of term she had given him a book…

_‘I hope this doesn’t sound stupid, but… every night at nine o’clock, read a chapter of this. I’ve got a copy too; we can read it together…’_

“It’s the best part of my days… reading with you.”

She smiles softly, and he does the same.

“Thank you.” He says. He doesn’t think it will ever feel like enough. “You remind me I’m not alone.”


	17. Everything is Different Now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Querl considers his feelings for Kara.

Summer is long. Longer than any summer that came before it. Everything is different now. Querl studies, practices potioneering, spends long hours in his room reading, and sits through tense dinners with his mother… that is the same, true enough, but now he longs to return to school. Hogwarts had been a different kind of hell, but now…

_Everything is different now. _

He thinks of Winn’s exuberance, Alex’s wit, and Kara- she is warmth and kindness, she is steadfast, she is _good_…

Querl is sixteen years old but he has never experienced love. Not with his family. Not with anyone. Love was something frivolous found in books. But then came Kara.

_Everything._

He draws in a slow breath, trying to focus on the transfiguration text in front of him, but that cause is lost now, his mind wandering.

_What does it feel like? Love…_

Does it feel like the leap in his heart every time Kara embraces him? The way he gets butterflies when she lights up with laughter? The warmth that spread through him when she kissed hit cheek softly before they got off the train? The way he feels _safe_ with her? Or how he would do anything to keep her safe in turn? It must be…

A pit forms in his stomach and he can almost hear his mother’s hiss.

_Pathetic. The first person to treat you kindly and you’re falling all over yourself thinking it’s love._

“I am certain.” Querl says quietly to the voice. Because Kara is the best thing in his life. She has made his life better. Has made _him_ better. He is not sure what path the love he feels will take, but he knows no matter what he will always love her.

Because she is warmth and kindness and love herself. How could he feel anything else?


	18. Fabala

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A response to a prompt asking for Kara and Querl's mother to meet in person. So at last they meet? The name “Fabala” comes from cyclone-rachel. I was initially going to call Querl’s mother “Kajza”, but it sounded a little too close to “Kara”, so her full name wound up as Fabala Kajz Dox. Fabala and Querl’s father were not married; she is the descendant of the house of Dox, not married in. And now that I’ve given you way too much information, here’s the fic.

Diagon Alley is busy, bustling with students getting their school things and witches and wizards shopping, eating, banking, and just enjoying a beautiful day. Eliza is having lunch in the Leaky Cauldron with one of her old school friends, so Kara and Alex wander the shops, picking up Kara’s books for school and the things Alex will need when her auror’s training begins. They’re laughing and about to jump into the winding line at Florean Fortescue’s when Kara gasps.

“Look, there’s Querl!” And beaming she darts in his direction to hug him– or she tries; Alex quickly grabs the back of her shirt and pulls her back.

“Maybe don’t.” She says softly and Kara hedges as she realizes who walks beside him. 

Fabala Kadj Dox could be called beautiful, but there is something about that beauty that is cruel. There is a sharpness to her, and a foreboding. She has dark eyes, like Querl’s, but they have none of the softness Kara has seen in his; none of the warmth. They are the eyes of a woman who sent a dementor after her own son, and Kara sucks in a breath as she realizes those eyes are looking directly at her.

“She’s looking at us…”

“Yeah, I see that.” Alex says warily.

—

Where Querl stands, he fights not to tense.

“Someone should tell that girl it’s rude to stare.” His mother says in a way that’s almost conversational but undercut with ice. “A classmate of yours?”

“Yes.” Querl answers tonelessly, wishing he could talk to Kara and Alex; that his mother would leave off for something in Knockturn Alley; that they had come any other day…

“Who is she?” Fabala prompts pointedly and starts walking again. Querl follows.

“Kara Danvers…” He almost flinches at the wariness in his own voice.

She pauses, looking back. “Ah…”

Querl swallows hard as she changes direction.

He sees Alex notice their approach first, her back straightening slightly, then Kara looks over her shoulder and her body language grows guarded. Following behind his mother, his expression grows briefly apologetic before his impassive mask returns.

“You were staring.” Fabala says softly, but clearly. “Was there something you wanted to say?” Her voice is almost gentle, yet the air around her seems to crackle with danger.

“I have classes with your son; I was telling my sister he’s brilliant.” Kara folds her arms. “I was out on the grounds last winter and he saved me from a dementor. Can you imagine? A dementor at Hogwarts?”

“Thank goodness he managed.” Fabala’s eyes turn to Querl with a subtle but intense scrutiny. “All things to those who apply themselves, Querl.”

“Yes.” He breathes, his mouth gone dry.

Her attention returns to Kara, and Querl realizes he’s holding his breath without intending to.

“Tragedy plagues your family, doesn’t it?” It’s an impression of sympathy that Querl sees for what it is… His mother is testing, seeing how Kara will react. His lips press together as something hot and angry twists inside of him. “Oh, if it had kissed you-”

“It didn’t.” Alex cuts in tersely, glaring.

“It’s ok, Alex.” Kara touches her sister’s arm, looking Fabala in the eyes. “My family _has_ lost a lot, but doing what’s _right_. Standing against evil. I’m _proud_ of where I come from. I’m proud of where I am. For every tragedy, good people have been there, to help me. Love me.” She tears her eyes away from Fabala to look directly at Querl, and speaks with conviction. “I hope you have that too, Querl. You deserve it.”

“Thank you.” He manages.

His mother’s eyes slide from Kara to him and back again.

“Thank _you_.” Kara smiles and it’s like an infusion of hope into his veins. “You really are brilliant.”

Fabala regards Kara and Alex imperiously. “How lucky that he was present.” Her hand splays on Querl’s back and she starts to steer him away. “Good day.”

Though she seems unruffled, Querl knows he is in for an interrogation over the night the dementor came… the night _she sent it_. He steels himself and as they pass Alex and Kara his hand brushes hers, his fingertips catching hers for just a moment. Her blue eyes find his and bolster him…

Summer is nearly over.

For the first time in his life, he can’t wait to go back to school.


	19. Nice to See You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A recent graduate of Hogwarts, Alex is officially in the Auror program. Her first time in the field goes sideways, but when she really connects with a classmate from Hogwarts, she finds it’s maybe not so bad. This is sometime in early October, Alex's training having started at the beginning of August.

Alex has felt better. She’s felt worse, but she’s definitely felt better. She’d been shadowing her mentor in the auror department on a call… looking into suspicious activity; fairly routine. It was going well until it was going sideways. Her memory is fuzzy. Her whole head feels fuzzy. Her eyes are itchy… she got shot in the face with a blinding jettison of sand, then… then was she knocked out? Who did that? When she finds out, she’s gonna hex them into next week. She wonders if Auror Lane is alright; sits up slowly, taking in her surroundings… She must be in St. Mungo’s. 

“Oh, good, you’re awake!” 

Alex looks to the door and sees a face she recognizes. 

“Kelly? Wait- Kelly Olsen, right?”

“That’s me.” She smiles warmly and Alex finds herself smiling thinly back. “I maybe look a little different without the yellow tie.” She laughs. “We had potions class and astronomy together.”

“I remember.” Alex nods. She’s always thought Kelly was pretty, but really looking at her in proper light Alex is finding her mouth going slightly dry. “You work here?”

“Apprenticing just yet, but I’m on my way. I am definitely not surprised to see you went the path of the auror.” 

Alex drags a hand through her hair, her head ducking a little. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Kelly’s smile is open and soft and so pretty, and Alex suddenly remembers she’s been unconscious for how long? She hopes she doesn’t look like a ghoul.

“Uh- is Lucy Lane here? She’s my mentor-”

“She’s alright. She said you got a call that ended up being an ambush.” She frowned. “She didn’t get into details. Probably not allowed.”

“At least not yet… Not the best first time out in the field.”

“Hey, don’t do that to yourself.” Kelly says softly, touching Alex’s shoulder. “You got _ambushed_. And from what I understand, you stunned one of them, so if you ask me, fifty points to Alex Danvers.”

Her eyes meeting Kelly’s, Alex feels her spirits lift. “God, if only.” She laughs a little. “You know what? I will happily accept Kelly Olsen points.”

“Good.”

“Perfect.”

“Let’s make sure you’re good then. No lasting effects.”

“Thank you.”

Kelly nods and draws her wand, using it to detect anything, asking questions now and then. When it’s all done, Alex is feeling better– mostly. She can’t quite shake the sense of butterflies in her stomach that have nothing to do with the events of last night.

“Well, I’m gonna send for the healer to make an assessment, but it looks to _me_ like you’re clear. It was nice to see you Alex.”

“Yeah, you- you too.” Alex nods. “Thank you again.”

“I’d say anytime, but hopefully you don’t end up here too often.”

“Hopefully.” Alex smiles sheepishly. “My mom would not be thrilled.”

“She must be proud of you.”

“I hope so.”

“I’m sure.” Kelly says it with conviction and Alex is grateful.

“Hey- maybe- maybe we could go get lunch sometime. Talk.”

“That actually sounds really nice. I’d love to do that.”

Alex sucks in a breath and nods quickly.

“Great! We’ll pick a day.”

“I’m busy this week, but what about next? Could you manage Wednesday?”

“Yeah. Wednesday it is. Can I owl you? We’ll sort out details.”

“I look forward to it.” Kelly nods, taking up her things and heading out. “It was so nice to see you, Alex.”

“You, too!” Alex calls after her, thinking maybe she should thank whoever it was that knocked her out… she’s still going to hex them, but thanks are in order too.


	20. It Was You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For a prompt asking for Kelly and Alex working together in school-- Big thanks to @winterskywrites who gave me the perfect idea to tackle this one when I was feeling stumped on how to do it without contradicting myself. Hope you enjoy!

In her fifth year, Kelly notices there’s a hole in her Charms class desk, and, tucked inside, a tiny rolled up bit of parchment. Her curiosity getting the better of her, she glances around then works the parchment free, carefully unrolling it and smiling thinly as she reads the scrawled words _Save yourself some annoyance: shrinking charm is more flicky than wavy._ The words are right, she finds; they _are_ working on a shrinking charm today, and the Professor says to wave their wands, but she finds a flicking motion is far more effective.

_Thank you, kind stranger! Flick does the trick._ She writes the words, then tucks the note back into the hole, feeling an odd sense of excitement.

—

Alex takes her seat in Charms and glances to the notch in her desk, feeling a sense of disappointment when she sees it’s _gone_. Frowning, she touches the spot and blinks when her fingertips sink through and feel parchment… _An illusion charm._ She glances around and draws the tiny scroll out, unrolling it and almost laughing as she looks at the neat words written in response to hers. She tears a fresh piece of parchment and starts to write… _Glad to help! Nice illusion, by the way! I thought the desk got changed out._ It sits by her notes, but before class is done she adds a little more. _Today we’re working on engorgio– this one’s a wave. Good luck!_ She grins as she tucks the note back into the concealed spot.

_—_

_I wanted to make sure you got your thanks! I may have waved a little too enthusiastically my first try at engorgement and made my button roughly the size of a muggle car tire, but shrinking it back down was easy enough. Thanks again. _She draws a little smiling face, and leaves the note in it’s spot.

—

Alex snorts, imagining a ballooning button; and smiles back at the tiny face._ I bet there’s someone out there who needs a giant button, so maybe your enthusiasm will be rewarded. If not, it’s like you said– flick does the trick._

—

Kelly’s always liked Charms class, but she’s finding her favorite part has become sitting down and checking for new messages. They write about spellwork; they offer encouragement to each other; it’s a strange little friendship, faceless but warm. She thinks of suggesting they meet more than once, but there’s magic in whatever passes between them, and joy. It’s strange; funny; _special_. So she’s leaves things as they are, and though she’s curious she’s content, too.

—

It would be easy enough to find out what other fifth year sits at her desk, but Alex never does. Maybe she’s afraid to be disappointed; maybe the mystery is the appeal. When the year ends, though, she feels a little regret; the last note tucked into her pocket.

_Have a good summer, and don’t worry too much. You will do incredible things._

She’s been anxious with thoughts of the future, and confessed as much, but she finds looking at the tidy hand that has become so familiar soothes her.

_Thank you._

—

Kelly’s lips curl slowly upward as she takes the letter from Alex’s owl and looks at her name written in a script that plunges her into memories

As she writes back to confirm that that restaurant sounds perfect and she cannot wait for lunch, she wonders if Alex will recognize her writing too, and can’t suppress the giddy feeling rising in her.

_It was you._


	21. For She Who Fills the World With Color

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Birthday, cyclone-rachel! I hope you enjoy this little birthday celebration– because I read your thoughts on Querl and birthdays, had this idea, and kinda ran with it.

Though he has considered Winn a friend for coming up on a year, it still comes as a bit of a surprise when the other boy sits down next to him in Transfiguration the first class of their sixth year.

“You look confused.” Winn says astutely. “Ya know, I would have come to sit by you last year, but we’d picked seats already.”

“Ah,” Querl manages, then wants to kick himself. _Eloquent._

Winn snorts lightly. “Ya know, we have planning to do.”

“Yes, I _have_ started preparing for the NEWTS next year-”

“Oh good lord, not the _NEWTS_! Kara’s birthday!”

“Oh, yes… right.”

“It’s-”

“September, the twenty-second, I’m aware.”

“Well usually Alex plans birthday fun for her, but she’s gone, so it’s up to us.” Winn says dutifully and grins. Querl looks back somewhat dubiously, causing that grin to falter. “Do you not want to?”

“I would love to celebrate Kara…” Querl says softly. “I- uh- I’ve never really celebrated birthdays. They were acknowledged, but… My mother’s standards for what constitutes an achievement worth celebrating are higher than growing a year older.”

Something flickers in Winn’s eyes and Querl hopes it isn’t pity.

“Do you have ideas?” Querl asks tentatively, not wanting to dwell there. “For what we could do?”

“I’ve got a few.” That grin that is all _Winn_ comes back full force as Querl grows thoughtful. It’s good that the first class is mostly review, because Querl is mostly distracted.

He thinks of Kara and all she’s done for him, and wants, more than anything, to give her _joy _for her birthday. He thinks of foods, decorations, gifts- he thinks, for a moment, of music and dancing with her. He thinks of her smile…

When class ends, he looks to Winn and says with assurance “The Room of Requirement.”

“What about it?”

“The three of us could celebrate there.”

“Yes!” He claps Querl on the shoulder and shakes him lightly. “I like this plan. This is a good plan.”

“All of my plans are good.” Querl answers matter-of-factly, and Winn rolls his eyes.

“So humble.”

Querl slings his bag over his shoulder, speaking seriously. “She’ll be coming of age. It should be perfect. Special.”

“It will be.” Winn nods. “We’ve got this.”

So they plan. Winn works some magic in the kitchens and gets heaping plates of all Kara’s favorites, plus a cake topped with an ornamental Pegasus that rears up with flapping wings. He wraps up a couple new games for game nights in bright colored papers…

Querl uses some of the money he earned over the summer as an apothecary apprentice and orders a kit of art supplies for Kara. He’s caught her doodling and sketching enough times; idly scratching images in the margins of her notes with her quill. He hopes an array of pencils in every hue he can think of, and a blank book to fill with whatever she can imagine, will make her happy… in the front of the book he pens the words _For she who fills the world with color and makes all things brighter. Happy Birthday, Kara_. Then he transfigures flowers into finery; a sparkling pendant on a slim chain from him, then a little fine tuning on a bracelet with petal colors created by Winn.

The night comes, and instead of going to dinner, they ask her to come to the Room of Requirement. The way her face lights up when she opens the door is a gift in itself; she takes in the colored banners, the flowers; Winn and Querl smiling back as the wireless plays… then she runs to them, pulling both into a hug.

“Happy Birthday!” Winn shouts, gleefully.

“Happy Birthday, Kara.” Querl’s voice comes quieter, but with no less heart.

“This is amazing!” She laughs, squeezing them tight. “Thank you so much!”

“Oh, the fun is just beginning.” Winn promises. “You’re officially of age, it’s gotta be a night to remember, right?”

As it turns out, it’s a night to remember for them all.


	22. Smile

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A response to the prompt "Winn finally getting Querl to actually smile".

Sixth year transfiguration is complicated, but Winn is confident that he is in the smartest corner of the room at his table with Querl. They’re attempting to turn a pile of yarn balls into a pile of kittens and it’s tricky work, but Querl’s got a blue kitten with a very long tail wandering around the basket on their table, and that’s a start.

“You know what you call a pile of kittens?” Winn says off-handedly.

“Hm?” Querl is focused, trying to get the kitten’s tail right first.

“A meowntain.” He grins, scritching the tiny blue creature on the head.

Querl doesn’t react for a moment, but then his eyes crinkle at the edges, his lips curving slightly upward. “A meowntain, that’s clever.” And he sounds genuinely amused which nearly knocks Winn out of his chair.

“Are you smiling? Are you _smiling_? I’ve wasted so much time trying to figure out how to get a smile out of you and it was a _pun_?”

“You don’t have better uses for your time?” Querl says dryly, eyeing Winn but still holding some amusement in his expression.

“Knowing how to help someone smile is like a friendship duty, and the only other option I’ve seen go well is _being Kara_, and she’s kind of one of a kind.”

“She is.” He smiles thinly again and Winn wonders for a moment if there’s something more there, but he doesn’t have too much time to consider that because then Querl is leaning towards him. “As it stands, I believe praise and physical affection make you smile. You did well. Shall we embrace?”

“_What?_”

Querl gives him a wry look then shifts his posture back towards their yarn. “You are _very_ needy.”

Winn stammers for a second, then glares. “I am not _needy_.”

Querl casts a sidelong look at him and gives another one of those subtle smiles. “Perhaps not… In any matter, you are a good friend.”

And at that? At that, Winn can’t help but to hug him.


	23. Sharp

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A response to a prompt asking for Querl's first time healing someone.

“Ow! _Shit_!” Winn hisses. They’re in Potions class and his knife is apparently not sharp enough to make it through the ingredients he’s supposed to be mincing, but plenty sharp enough to slice into his palm. He grimaces as blood starts to well from the cut, and Kara starts to get up to tell the professor.

“Let me see” Querl says, unruffled. There’s few enough students in NEWT level potions that they all get to be in the same class. He rather unceremoniously pulls Winn’s hand in front of him, avoiding letting any blood fall into one of their cauldrons. Kara stills, watchful, and Winn tries to be calm as Querl draws his wand.

“Wait- have you done this before?” He trusts Querl- he’s seen him do all kinds of amazing magic! But healing is intricate, and- “Maybe I should go to the hospital wing, or-”

“There.” Querl smiles wanly. “You’re welcome.”

Winn pulls his hand back, looking at his smooth palm. “Hey, you can’t even tell...”

“It was just a cut. It’s not like you chopped off a finger.”

Relaxing, Kara takes Winn’s hand, peering at it in the dim light of the dungeon, then smiles at Querl. “Good as new.”

Querl’s already back to mincing his own ingredients, his wand away. “The hand’s a little more intricate than other spots, but it’s not too advanced. Hogwarts really should offer coursework in first aid...”

Winn rolls his eyes. “Kara, he wants more class.” She laughs good naturedly and Winn grins. “We’re supposed to do some healing stuff in Charms before the end of the year.”

“When did you start studying healing on your own?” Kara regards Querl curiously.

“After the dementor.” Querl’s still focused, but his expression darkens slightly. He doesn’t see how Kara’s smile falters. They knew it had affected him; filled him with anxiety; but now he thinks of their friend staying up all night trying to learn healing; trying to better protect _ his_ friends... It makes him a little heartsick, and he knows Kara feels it too. “I’ll show you both how. Winn, sharpen your knife before you _do_ chop off a finger.”

“Right.” He murmurs. “Thanks.”


	24. To Share the Ones You Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the elmayarafest “you came!” prompt, it’s back to the Hogwarts AU! I was struggling with what to write for this one, then the first beat of this came to me and I remembered Alex inviting Kelly over in the “A Gift” story (the next chapter here). So here it is- Alex introducing Kelly to her family for the first time– a Christmas fic in April. :P

“You came!” Alex says excitedly as she opens the door. The radio is turned up and the holiday music drifts out into the snowy evening. Kelly smiles, amused.

“I told you I was going to.”

“And now you’re here.” Alex takes Kelly’s hand and draws her inside. Her mom in in her favorite chair, sipping from a mug of hot chocolate; Winn, Kara, and Querl are seated on the floor around the coffee table, playing a game; Clark is on the couch with Lois, the two cozy together as they watch the game, Lois providing occasional commentary. Kelly’s brother, James, is watching intently, camera in hand- capturing candid moments of laughter; joy… _And now Kelly’s here!_ She squeezes Kelly’s hand and leads her into the fray.

James notices them first and gets up, coming to hug his sister. “Hey,” He grins, and Kelly pushes him lightly. 

“Mom keeps asking me why you don’t floo by more.” Kelly says pointedly. 

James puts his hands up, grimacing. “Wow, right away.”

“Right away.” Kelly pokes him. “At least send an owl.” She puts her hands on her hips briefly, then looks to Alex and smirks. “Brothers.”

Alex smiles, then gestures to Kara who has come over, practically bouncing with excitement. “This is my sister, Kara,”  
  
“I’ve seen you at school,” Kelly smiles warmly, hugging Kara easily. “It’s nice to actually meet you.”

“You too!” Kara chirps, squeezing Kelly eagerly, then beaming at Alex, drawing back for Eliza to give Kelly a gentler hug.

“I’m so glad you could make it. Make yourself at home– dinner should be ready in about a half hour, but there’s cookies, and some snacks if you’re hungry.”

“That sounds great.” Kelly nods earnestly, taking off her coat which Alex hurries to take and hang while Kelly goes to greet Lois and Clark, Kara introducing Winn and Querl happily.

Alex takes a breath as she watches and finds herself smiling softly.

The best Christmas gift, she thinks, is finally sharing all of them with each other.


	25. A Gift

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A holiday gift for cyclone-rachel, featuring Querl’s second Christmas with Kara.

It’s Querl’s second Christmas at the Danvers house. It’s good to return; better than he can possibly express, and even more bustling this year because Winn has joined him in the den, and tonight Alex has invited a lovely girl named Kelly- the sister of Clark’s best friend. Clark’s come too, with his girlfriend, Lois Lane, and Kelly’s brother James as well. Querl knows their faces but this is the first time he’s really met them. He likes them. Likes this house, This family. Likes the holidays, even, when he’s here with them. _A Christmas miracle._

The house is noisy and bustling and cheerful. There’s laughter and such joy, and it leaves Querl feeling warm, happy, _safe_. But as the night grows later, he finds he needs a moment; slips away, out into the snow. Fresh flakes fall silently, the moon full and bright overhead. He breathes out a puff of steam and thinks of another carol on the radio… _Heavenly peace indeed._

The snow crunches behind him and he turns to see Kara, regarding him tentatively.

“Are you ok?”

“I’m… wonderful. Truly. Thank you, Kara.”

She nods and approaches, taking his arm gently. “Walk with me?”

And he’s all too happy to oblige. They walk towards the trees and Kara rests her head on his shoulder, and Querl’s Christmas wish is to stay that way with her always, but then he’s falling back with a shout, and Kara is laughing as they plop into the snow.

Rosy cheeked and smiling, she looks at him and he finds himself smiling too. She has that power, something stronger than magic- more beautiful, more precious. She scooches closer and he rolls onto his side to face her… she mirrors him and they gaze at each other for a long moment.

“Querl…?” She asks softly, bites her lower lip.

“Yes?” He breathes.

“Can I… Can I kiss you..?”

He sucks in a breath as his heart starts to race, then leans in and softly kisses _her_. She cups his cheek and kisses back, and if Querl had to, he imagines he could produce a hundred patronuses in this moment.

When it breaks they gaze at each other, both blushing.

“Thank you…” Querl manages.

“For that…?” Kara strokes his cheek, her eyes drinking him in.

“For… everything. Every moment with you, Kara Danvers, is a gift.”

She beams softly and Querl’s heart feels like it could burst. 

“I’m so glad to know you, Querl Dox.”

Her hand slides up into his hair and she lean in, her lips softly meeting his again.


	26. Sisterly Duty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A response to a prompt asking for Alex to be the first to find out about Kara and Querl.

“Where’d you and Querl go last night?” Alex yawns, making her bed, but turning when her sister makes a suspiciously non-committal ‘Uh…’ and eying Kara. “Ok, both my fresh auror training and seasoned sister senses say something’s up.”

“Well he needed a little air, so we went for a walk.”

Alex jabs a finger towards her sister, eyes widening. “You’re _blushing_.” And Kara quickly puts her hands to her cheeks to feel as Alex gasps. “Did you and Querl-”

“We kissed!” Kara exclaims quietly, bobbing on her toes. “We kissed and it was really nice, and I-”

“I _knew_ it!” Alex hisses and throws a pillow at her sister that Kara catches (with her face). “I knew there was something!”

Kara goes a deeper shade of pink but she’s smiling and Alex _beams_.

“It was a good kiss?”

Kara nods, and it looks like she can’t stop smiling. “It was really good.”

“I’m gonna have a talk with him.”

“What? Alex!”

“What? I’m just gonna tell him if he ever hurts you I’ll kill him and make it look like an accident.” Alex says breezily and this time it’s her who takes a pillow to the face.

“Don’t you dare!”

“It’s my sisterly duty.” Alex says, holding her head high.

“Oh yeah? Then should I talk to Kelly?”

Alex laughs, and Kara catches it and soon they’re sitting on the floor between their beds, knees bumping slightly.

“Just don’t say anything yet, ok…? He’s… well, you know he’s private and I just don’t want it to be out there until he’s ready.”

Alex nods. “That’s fair. I’m surprised it took so long; the way the two of you look at each other, I was always kind of wondering if there was more to it.”

Kara tucks her hair behind her ear and smiles softly. “It felt… right.”

Alex smiles and leans her head lightly on Kara’s. “It’s good you make each other happy. You let me know when he’s ready and I’ll have my talk with him.”

“_Alex._” Kara groans and they dissolve into laughter.


	27. A Thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Winn finds out about Kara and Querl's kiss.

“May I ask you something?”

Querl and Winn are sharing the pullout couch for one last night before they head back to Hogwarts. It’s been interesting, sharing a space with him; or sometimes not when he _needs_ space and disappears to Winn isn’t entirely sure where.

“Sure. What’s up?”

“Have you ever been in love?”

Winn blinks in the semi-dark and sits up. “In love?”

“Yes.”

“I mean… I dunno.” Winn considers the question. Turns over feelings he’s had in his mind. “Not yet, I don’t think… but we’re sixteen, we’ve got time, right?”

“I think I am in love with Kara.”

“_Oh_.” Querl’s words come as a surprise considering it was… pretty obvious, in hindsight. “Ok, well… ok. In love?”

“I think so.” Querl murmurs. “What I feel for her… it it different from anything I have _ever_ felt. And when she kissed me-”

“Wait a second, you two _kissed_?”

“Yes, Winn, that is what I said.” His tone grows slightly testy with an implied _keep up_.

“When? When did this happen?”

“Christmas Eve… It was…” He sucks in a breath. “I can’t describe it.” He makes a soft sound, surprised by his inability. “I am usually eloquent…”

“So it was good then?” Winn smiles. “That’s good. So you two are a thing now?”

“Yes, I believe we are…” And Winn sees Querl is smiling too, as if it catches him by surprise.

“Well, give it a little time.” Winn says in what he hopes sounds like a sage voice. “And if it’s love… if it’s love, I think you’ll know. And you two kids behave yourselves-” The pillow hitting his face cuts him off and he pushes it aside. “Hey!”

“You said something nice. Don’t ruin it.”

“How do you have a girlfriend before me?” Winn says with (mostly) mock indignation. “How is that a thing?”

“Give it a little time.” Querl says, mimicking Winn’s tone expertly, then smiles thinly. “You’re a good person, Winn. There will be love for you.”


	28. The Trauma in the Teacup

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A prompt response that asked for Kara finding out what happened to Querl's father.

Kara knows Querl puts _no_ stock in divination, but she needs to practice deciphering tea leaves and as it stands, her boyfriend is very good for drinking tea and leaving leaves, and those are perfectly good for her to decipher. So they sit in companionable silence in the room of requirement, Querl reading a book and Kara flipping through her Divination text as she puzzles out the dregs in his finished cup.

She squints, checks the book, squints, flips pages, scratches notes, “hm”s thoughtfully… Querl glances to her, smiling thinly. Her gaze lifts to catch his and she smiles too, then checks the leaves again before delving back into the text. But as she looks and compares and looks again, her smile fades, her brow furrowing.

“…hm.”

“Do you see something?”

“Darkness hanging over you… clinging like cobwebs…” She frowns and double checks _again_ for good measure.

“Are the leaves shaped like my mother?” Querl asks dryly and Kara looks up, her eyes meeting his.

“What- …what happened with your dad…?” She sees… a secret. Pain. A spectre…

When the color drains from his face she knows it’s something.

“Ah,” He breathes- his knuckles have gone white on the book in his hands.

“Querl? Hey…” Kara rises, coming around the table and going to him. Perching on the arm of his chair, she touches his cheek.

“What did you see?” Querl finally manages, his voice strange, like his mouth has gone dry. “What about my father?”

“Something like a phantom… it’s not exact, but I saw that… and- and that it hurts you… whatever happened… he died, didn’t he…?”

“I don’t know, actually.” His voice is barely a whisper; Kara combs her fingers through his hair, wanting to sooth him from whatever it is that’s reared its head… whatever it is she saw in the cup.

“You don’t know?”

“He didn’t hurt me- …Kara.” He gazes at her and Kara’s heart breaks from the sorrow and the _fear_ in his eyes. “I did it… I hurt him.”

“What do you mean…?”

“I was- I was eight, and my mother thought- she was teaching me the unforgivable curses.” He swallows hard and looks away. Kara sucks in a breath. “He came home and he was angry, and I- she was _proud_ of me… My mother. I wanted it so much, to prove I was smart; to make her happy… and I got- Kara, I got so _angry_…” He looks down, and Kara sits totally still, a sick feeling in her stomach. “I- ah- I took my mother’s wand and I used the _Cruciatus_ curse. I used that on my father. And I didn’t _really_ understand until he– sometimes I still have terrible dreams where I see him just… writhing. Screaming. I did that. I was eight and I did _that_.”

“Querl…”

He looks up at her with bright eyes. “I ran… the next morning he was gone. I don’t know if he- if I killed him- or- or if she did… Or if he was so ashamed of me he left. I don’t know what the worst version of the story would be.”

Slowly Kara draws him close, resting her cheek in his hair as she hugs him. The book slides from his fingers and he hugs her tightly, like he’s afraid she will vanish too.

“I love you.” She whispers. “It’s ok.”

She feels him shake his head and holds him tighter; hushes him before he can protest.

“I’m so sorry you’ve had to carry that; more than half your life… Oh, Querl, I’m so sorry.”

And she wishes she could ease this pain; it makes her heartsick knowing he bears this. All she can do is promise and hope he believes.

“That moment isn’t who you are.” She draws back a little and lifts his chin so he looks at her again. “Querl Dox, you are good to your core. I _love_ you. Always.” Then she hugs him again, vowing silently to hold on until he believes her.


	29. After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A response to a prompt asking for Querl telling Kara what he wants to do after Hogwarts: be a healer. When I got the prompt it clicked as the perfect path for him; it felt like the right choice. I've thought about what Kara would do, too, but there are [a lot of good choices](https://starswouldtell.tumblr.com/post/612063602339381248/do-you-think-kara-would-be-an-auror-too-when-she), so where she's concerned I'm not sure just yet...
> 
> Also of note: Hogwarts Querl 1000% has those green sunglasses, and I could not rest until I established it as fact, and that is what I am most proud of in this fic. (Just kidding. Maybe. ;) )

“What do you think you wanna do? When we’re done here?” Kara asks thoughtfully. “I can’t believe we’re almost done.”

The late May heat feels heavy, but after hours of classes and studies and being cooped up within stone walls, she’s been itching to get some sunlight. Other students shout and laugh by the lake, the sounds drifting over on the breeze that gently catches her hair. Laying in the shade of a tree, Querl sits up, taking off the round, green sun shades he wears so he can really look at her.

It’s true. In a couple of weeks they will go home, and after that it’s just one year left. One more year of classes; studying in the library and sneaking off to the Room of Requirement. They’ll take their NEWTS, graduate, then… after.

“I’ve thought a lot about what comes after.”

“You think a lot about everything.” Kara smiles and Querl smiles back.

“An astute observation.” He tucks the glasses into the pocket on his shirt and Kara scooches back into the shade to sit beside him. “I would like to be a healer.”

Kara’s beams. “You’d be an _amazing_ healer. Before I even knew you, I thought you were really innovative with magic- you could really help people.”

Querl nods. “I’d love to bring progress to the healing arts. To _help_ people.” He looks from her out towards the lake. “And to do something _good_… something different for the house of Dox.”

“You are good. No matter what you do.”

He looks to Kara again. “Thank you.” He says softly. “But it would be nice… if others saw what you do. Perhaps this would make them look.”

She nods, understanding, and scooches closer still, leaning her head on his shoulder. “If you’re gonna be a healer, we should work on your bedside manner a _little_ bit though.”

He can hear the laughter in her voice and feigns offense. “My bedside manner is _fine_.”

“I think the correct word is _brusque_.”

“You’ll have to teach me.” He presses a kiss into her hair.

She laughs and agrees and Querl slips an arm around her.

“What about you? What will you do after?”

“I might have a few ideas…”

Querl knows that what ever happens after Hogwarts, he hope his path will always be twined with hers.


	30. Sharn Kol

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Querl meets a man in the closed ward.

Apprenticing at St. Mungo’s, Querl finds, is deeply gratifying; a precious fresh start. He is making his own way, standing on his own merits and magic, distinguishing himself from his family in a way he never felt he could at Hogwarts (_until Kara, at least_)- a way that feels solid, substantial. He’s grown now, free of his mother’s house. He has _friends_; Kara, Alex, Winn– he’s gotten closer with Kelly Olsen, too. They have lunch together often, both apprenticing at the hospital. Kelly’s taken up work in the closed ward, for those with magical afflictions of the mind; an area Querl is definitely intrigued by. The mind is delicate work; complicated… there are things even the finest healers can’t put right, but Querl considers such cases and can’t help but think _maybe_…

There are a thousand and more possibilities in _maybe_. (He learned that much at fifteen, when a feline patronus landed on his desk.)

It’s one afternoon when he’s going to meet Kelly by the closed ward that he hears it… familiar and soft, almost secret… the doors swing open as someone passes through and a laugh drifts out: a laugh that Querl hasn’t heard since…

“Querl?”

He starts and looks to Kelly… he hadn’t even seen her emerge.

“Are you ok?”

“Ah… I…”

She frowns and touches his arm lightly. “Do you wanna sit down?”

“Who was laughing?” He can feel every muscle in his body coiling with tension. He looks sharply to Kelly. “Who was that laughing?”

Kelly’s brow furrows and she frowns at him. “One of the patients.”

“_Who?_” He catches himself and tries to soften. “Kelly, what is the patient’s name?” He looks to the doors and back to her. “_Please._”

“He doesn’t-… he’s a John Doe.”

Querl’s breath catches in his chest.

“He showed up here a long time ago, years. Whatever happened to him… the healers don’t know. It was powerful. He had no memories, so far as any of the healers could tell, _can_ tell, so they keep him safe here.”

He swallows and moves forward, going through the doors. Kelly follows quickly.

“Querl-”

He hears it again- the laugh- and his heart pounds like it might beat out of his chest. Kelly catches his wrist but he twists it away and walks into the doorway of the room from which the sound comes…

A man sits looking at a book, chuckling lightly over a funny passage; a man Querl doesn’t recognize. Then he looks up, his head tilting lightly to one side, and smiles, and Querl feels like the floor drops out from under his feet… he grips the door frame lest he fall.

“Afternoon.” The stranger says.

The stranger who isn’t a stranger.

“Hello.” Querl breathes, drawing his wand.

“Querl!” Kelly says quickly. “You aren’t authorized to-”

He looks to her and whatever she sees in him makes her fall silent, anxious, her hands coming nervously together.

He swallows and approaches the man. “Hello.” He manages. “I know that you’ve likely has many spells performed to try and learn a bit more about you, but if you’d let me, I’d like to try something…”

The man frowns slightly but nods. “Alright. You’re a new healer?” He’s looking pensively at Querl.

“Apprentice.” Querl murmurs, touching his wand to the stranger’s temple and turning it slowly, breathing an incantation he read long ago, written in his mother’s hand.

Kelly gasps as the man’s face starts to shift and change; she runs to get a fully trained healer.

Querl lowers his wand slowly, forgetting to breathe as he looks into the face of a man he knows… “Sharn Kol… Your name is Sharn Kol.” He whispers, looking into the eyes of his father.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was written in response to an ask on tumblr suggesting Fabala didn't actually kill Querl's father but took his memories, and to fill the [elmayarafest](https://elmayarafest.tumblr.com/) "family matters" prompt. "Sharn Kol" was chosen by me, but from names in a post by [spandexinspace](https://spandexinspace.tumblr.com/post/190163333049/a-not-so-quick-look-at-coluan-names). As I've mentioned before, in this AU, Querl's mother is named Fabala Kajz Dox and she was not married to Querl's father (she is a proud Dox and wanted to keep that name and pass it to her son).


	31. The Things She's Done

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is my second time writing this because the first time it got eaten by an internet error when I tried to post it, and I’m gonna be honest it feels like trying to piece back together something that went though a shredder so it’s probably not as good as the first and I’m sorry. ;-; This takes place a few hours after Sharn Kol. To say Querl is mad is a bit of an understatement.

When Alex arrives, Querl is sitting in a chair with his head in his hands, Kelly perched on the arm and rubbing his shoulder gently. Kara isn’t home yet. Looking up, Kelly stands, walking to Alex and kissing her lightly.

“Thank you for coming.”

“Thank you…” Querl echoes softly.

“Is everything alright…?” Looking at their faces, Alex feels a pit of anxiety forming in her stomach.

“It most certainly is not.” Querl answers, his voice taking a brittle sort of quality, his limbs coiling with tension.

“There’s a patient-”

“_My father_.” Querl cuts in tersely, then visibly tries to reign in all the things he’s feeling; Alex has never seen him so livid, but he tries to hold back the rage that tries to claw free from his chest. “My father is in St. Mungo’s. Has been. Since I was eight years old.”

“What?” Alex breathes. “I thought…”

“My mother wiped his mind. Changed his face.” He says darkly, his hands balling up.

“I’ve never seen spellwork like it.” Kelly says, still trying to wrap her mind around all she’s witnessed today. “It was completely undetectable. If Querl hadn’t recognized it-… he recognized his father’s laugh; undid the spell. Only the head healer of the closed ward knows, and us… Querl managed to put the masking back in place.”

Alex drags a hand through her hair as the information sinks in. “You’re sure it was her?”

“It was a spell of her invention.” Querl growls. “She left him there with _nothing_. No memories. No _identity_.” Something flashes in his eyes and he makes himself take a breath. “If she learns he’s been identified…”

Closing the space between them, Alex kneels and takes Querl’s hands, looking up into his face. The fire in him flickers, then suddenly it’s _grief_. “I’m so sorry.” She holds his gaze, squeezing his hands in hers. Kelly touches his shoulder again with a comforting hand. “I promise you I will do everything in my power to keep your father safe, and we will _prove_ your mother did this.”

“Thank you…” He manages, his voice growing tremulous. “Both of you.”

“Querl?” Alex starts, looking over her shoulder to see Kara standing in the doorway and looking worried. “What’s going on?”

He swallows hard, meeting Kara’s gaze. “My father’s alive.”

Alex moves aside as Kara rushes in and hugs him, one hand sliding into his hair. Between the three of them, they tell Kara everything, and when it’s over Kara’s eyes hold a steely determination.

“She won’t get away with it.”

Kelly gives a nod, and Alex too.

Querl nods slowly, eyes going somewhere far away.

“I need to get back in the house.”


End file.
